#Business : Pfizer, Allergan Poised for $150 Billion Merger

Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Allergan are expected to announce a merger
as early as Monday that would create the world’s biggest drug company by sales,
according
to the Wall Street Journal.

The deal would be worth more than $150 billion, and it would be the largest
so-called inversion ever. An inversion occurs when a U.S. company merges with a
foreign company and reincorporates overseas in order to avoid American corporate
taxes. Allergan is based in Dublin, Ireland, and it would take over New
York-based Pfizer to locate the merged company outside of the United States.
Pfizer CEO Ian Read would lead the company, with Allergan CEO Brent Saunders as
the second-in-command, according to the Journal.

The inversion plans come as the United States attempts to block such business
deals from moving forward, since they allow companies to avoid U.S. tax
obligations. But even new inversion rules by the Treasury Department seem to be
unable to stop the Pfizer-Allergan deal, as Fortune reported.

Last year, Pfizer boasted more than $50 billion in revenue; Allergan, which
was bought by Actavis, took in more than $13 billion in sales. Their combined
portfolio will include Botox, the Prevnar pneumonia vaccine and treatments for
ailments including Alzeimer’s and rheumatoid arthritis.